Families are being urged to swap favourite fast foods and ready meals for healthier homecooked versions, as part of a fresh Welsh Government drive to improve the nation’s health.

Families are being urged to swap favourite fast foods and ready meals for healthier homecooked versions, as part of a fresh Welsh Government drive to improve the nation’s health.

A new phase of the Change4Life campaign is being launched, which ministers hope will show parents across Wales that cooking their own meals can be quick and inexpensive.

By issuing Food Smart recipes, families are being encouraged to replace fast food meals, which are often high in fat, sugar and salt, for homemade produce that will help to improve their health and wellbeing and drive down the rate of obesity in Wales.

Currently half of adults and a third of children in Wales are overweight, a trend predicted by many in the medical profession to increase in the coming years unless serious action is taken.

Meanwhile, heart disease remains one of Wales’ biggest killers, lifestyle related cancers are on the rise and one in ten of the population are predicted to be diagnosed with a form of diabetes by 2030.

The campaign is encouraging people to use local food co-operative schemes to make small changes to their diet.

A recipe book, which is being issued to the 40,000 people who have already signed up to the Change4Life programme and will be available on the website, features ways of making even meals such as fish and chips more healthy.

Health Minister Lesley Griffiths said: “Now is the perfect time to think about making a change for life. Everyone is cost conscious and health conscious in January, and the Food Smart brochure provides some healthy swaps, from unhealthy takeaways and ready meals to tasty alternatives that are easy to make at home, like stews, curries and even fish and chips.

“Food Smart is here to help us all make good choices about what we put in our bodies each day and help prevent diseases like cancer, strokes, heart disease and type 2 diabetes. The recipes are all low in sugar, salt and fat and are a really easy way to get those important five a day.”

Chef and cookery writer Nerys Howell said: “Making a food swap means you don’t have to give up what you like – there are lots of tasty alternatives to unhealthy food out there.

“Shopping with food co-operatives is an affordable way of using seasonal food and buying locally. Healthy food is the best gift you can give to your family because what you eat now will have an impact in the long term.”

Last month, Chief Medical Officer for Wales Dr Ruth Hussey told the Western Mail she believed schemes which made healthier food more accessible would work more effectively than a tax on junk food.

She said: “I think there is a lot of awareness and concern around the rate of obesity at the moment in Wales. This is a complex issue that requires us to look at all factors that have created these conditions. This often comes down to socioeconomic groups and we need to look at the factors putting people who are less well off in a position where they are more likely to be obese or overweight.

“The pattern of health is unfairly distributed in Wales. The environment around people has a role in influencing people’s lifestyles and we know food which has a high level of fat and salt and sugar tends to be more affordable.

“Given the economic situation something that makes healthier food more affordable might be a more positive move rather than a tax. It’s not something that I would advocate as a simple solution and it would need discussion.”

In England, a similar Change4Life campaign launched today will focus on exposing the “hidden nasties” in everyday foods, with graphic new adverts revealing a shocking 17 sugar cubes in a bottle of cola and more than a wine glass of fat in a large pizza.

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